- New Jersey's Real Estate, in their element
When the reverb gets cranked up on the guitars, you know you're about to experience some serious business. Everyone who was at the Beachland Tavern last night can attest to this.
Cleveland solo-act-gone-live-band Cloud Nothings opened the three-artist bill and played a set of their signature low-fi pop. The band presented itself as just that — as a band, playing raucous versions of the one-man solo songs found on Cloud Nothings records. The catchy and simple melodies were at their best in “Hey Cool Kid” and “Even If It Worked Out.”
New Jersey's Real Estate play windows-down, music-blaring, driving-60-mph-on-a-back-road music. It's part surf, part psych, and part indie-pop. The band was energetic onstage and looked genuinely excited to be playing for fans. There was a sea of bobbing heads in the Tavern, as Real Estate worked their way through songs from their self-titled debut album, which came out last year.
They warmed up the crowd for Kurt Vile and his band, whose drug-influenced psych-rock was heavy on wah-wah. If you were, um, under the influence, their set probably sounded really awesome. If you weren't, it probably sounded really boring. After all, two-chord jams have a hard time stretching out to more than five minutes. —Leanna Butkovic
